Apple Daily: urban center bids emotional farewell to pro-democracy paper Thousands across port rushed to take the ultimate edition of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, which closed its doors after 26 years. Overnight, hundreds braved heavy rain, gathering outside its offices where 1,000,000 copies were being printed. The publication decided to pack up after its reports were accused of breaching a national security law, resulting in a freeze on company assets. The closure is seen as a blow to press freedom under the pressure of Beijing. In the early hours of the morning, newsstands across the town saw long snaking queues with people eagerly hoping to select up the concluding copy of the paper. By 10:00 standard time, multiple vendors had sold out, in step with social media posts. The final edition was a tribute to its readers with the headline: “Hong Kongers bid a painful farewell within the rain”. “I think it is the end of an era,” supporter San Tsang told news organization Reuters as she was waiting in line. “I don’t understand why [Hong Kong] can’t even tolerate a newspaper.” “I want to support it till the top,” Amma Yeung said. “The newspaper has accompanied society for thus a few years. After this, we are going to weather the storm.” On Wednesday night, just hours after the corporate announced its closure, supporters of the tabloid had gathered outside its office, whilst heavy rain fell. They lit their phone flashlights as a show of solidarity and shouted support slogans like “add oil” – a preferred phrase of encouragement in the city, which may sometimes be translated to mean “go for it” or “don’t give up”. In response, Apple Daily staff ducked out of their offices to square at balconies and windows, waving flashlights and shouting “Thank you Hong Kong” to the crowds outside. Some were seen handing out free copies of the ultimate copy to the supporters on the road. Reports from within the newsroom on its concluding days showed emotional scenes of defiant applause moreover as tears and confusion. Apple Daily was Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy paper and had been a thorn within the side of Beijing’s attempts to terminate dissent. The paper’s offices were raided by police last week over allegations that several reports had breached a brand new national security law which makes undermining the govt. a criminal offense. Officials said the paper had published some 30 articles calling on countries to impose sanctions on cities and mainland China since 2019. As a result, company-linked assets were frozen and several other senior staff was arrested. The paper’s founder Jimmy Lai is already in detention facing charges under the safety law. On Wednesday afternoon, the paper announced it absolutely was shutting down. Its online outlet also stopped publishing at the hours of darkness on Wednesday. For its final edition on Thursday, Apple Daily printed meg copies, quite 10 times its usual press run. Ronson Chan, head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, said there was “a huge worry for the city’s freedom of speech”. “We are going to be very worried if there are consequences for writing. I’m afraid that it’ll make society feel, or how I feel now, that folks are put in prison due to what they write.” Hong Kong authorities have dismissed accusations that they are stifling press freedom, saying they’d not forced the paper to clean up. Chinese officials from Beijing have repeatedly said media freedoms in the urban center are respected but aren’t absolute. What is the national security law? China introduced the national security law in Hong Kong last year in response to massive pro-democracy protests that swept through the executive region over the past years. The law essentially reduced Hong Kong’s judicial autonomy and made it easier to punish demonstrators and activists. It criminalizes secession, subversion, and collusion with foreign forces with the most sentence being life in prison. A former British colony, the metropolis was handed back to China in 1997 but with an agreement that certain rights and freedoms should be safeguarded. Critics say the law has fundamentally undermined that agreement. Since the law was enacted in June 2020, quite 100 people are arrested under its provisions.
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